What a great week it was. A very heavy week of training but it was just amazing to see all the progress people are making. This week, besides the usual training, there was our first 100 mile ride and 20 mile run to be dealt with. The angst leading up to the weekend was heavy on the T3 discussion board. People were concerned with nutrition, ride routes and the weather. The weather became the big contributor. T3ers were scattered all over Central Texas. Some rode in charity rides North of Austin in Salado, some rode the Rosedale ride on East Austin, some rode down South towards San Marcos, several rode indoors while others opted to run on Saturday and ride on Sunday when it was supposed to be a better day.
I rode on Saturday up in Salado. When I left Austin, the temps were in the high 30's and the wind was gusting like crazy. All the way out to Salado, I figured we would get there and everyone would decide to skip the ride and just head back to Austin for a run. No luck, everyone showed up and was ready to ride. The wind was crazy. Strong gusts, I mean really strong. Liz and I rode together the whole way. It was very discouraging to work my ass off training, feeling good about having a usual average speed of 18 MPH, and then not being able to go much faster than 16 MPH due to headwinds, side winds, headwinds up hills and even downhill's. It was like gravity was being nullified by wind. At one point, we were riding across the dam on Still house Lake when we got hit with a side wind from the right. I saw Liz get pushed about two feet into traffic and then before I knew it, I was right there in the car lane with her, my right foot pulled from the cleat. Everything ached; we were riding hard the whole time. I wish there was some way to convey the physical demands and the mental games you have to play in order to get through a day like this. It was the toughest ride that I have ever encountered. It was a total of about 7 hours in the saddle at an average speed of 15.4 MPH. Now that it is over and I am sitting at my computer eating marshmallow peeps (Pink Bunnies), I can say that I am happy that I did it. It was a mental boost knowing that I can face those tough conditions and come through intact.
There were very few people riding the 100 mile route at Salado. We did not know that until later but at the time, we saw very few people once we got out on the longer routes. Liz and I got out to the furthest point on the route. We picked up Clarence along the way and the three of us were pushing hard to put the miles behind us and get this thing over with. When we got to the most extreme rest stop, there were a bunch of Boy Scouts manning the stop. We saw them ahead of us. They were playing around by the cars and when the saw us, they went running to man the tables. One grabbed some cups, another grabbed food, we watched them prepare to take care of us. I think we were their first customers of the day. Part of the training for today, was to have limited stops on the bike. We had to carry all our own nutrition and water. We felt bad when we just kept pedaling and passed them by. They looked so dejected.
The next day, (Sunday) was a 20 mile run. It was a great run, except for the last three miles. I was seriously hurting. Not injury hurting, just leg tired. My legs were worn out. I finished but it was painful. We ran negative splits between the first 10 and the second 10.
Everything is going well with training. Biggest problem I have right now is a saddle sore on my butt cheek. Let me just say that you have no friends willing to help when you have a sore on your ass. Not that I have asked anyone, I am just saying.
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